State to release hatchery trout to lakes, not rivers

SEATTLE – Thousands of hatchery-raised steelhead trout will be released into Washington lakes – including possibly Sprague Lake west of Spokane – rather than Puget Sound rivers this year, after federal biologists said they want to do a fuller review to ensure that hatchery fish don’t harm federally threatened wild steelhead.

The decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service means that for a second year, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will keep nearly 300,000 early-winter hatchery steelhead out of the Dungeness, Nooksack and Stillaguamish rivers. Tribal and recreational anglers won’t have access to them there.

The federal agency, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been studying whether hatchery plans submitted by the state and five Western Washington tribes meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

In a March draft, the agency concluded that the release of hatchery fish would not considerably harm wild steelhead. But it got so many comments – over 2,000 – that the agency announced Thursday it would do a full environmental impact statement.

“Given the wide range of opinions and intensity of feeling, we thought we needed more public review and input,” NOAA spokesman Michael Milstein said.

Jim Unsworth, director of the state Department Fish and Wildlife, said he was disappointed with NOAA’s decision. The process will delay approval of the hatchery programs and “have serious impacts on recreational fishing on several Puget Sound rivers,” Unsworth said in a statement.

The state and Jamestown S’Klallam, Lummi, Nooksack, Stillaguamish and Tulalip Tribes are awaiting NOAA approval for three hatchery programs.

“We realize this will be frustrating to some. But as much as we’d like to get this done quickly, it’s more important to get it right,” Will Stelle, regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast region, said in a statement.

Jim Scott, who heads the state’s fish program, said hatchery fish will instead be planted this June and fall in lakes for tribal and recreational anglers. Likely places include Green Lake in Seattle, Sprague Lake near Spokane, Cranberry Lake in Island County and St. Clair Lake in Thurston.

For years, the state has released hatchery steelhead in many Puget Sound rivers. But last year, the Duvall-based Wild Fish Conservancy sued the agency, arguing that hatchery fish harm their wild counterparts.

In settling the case, the state agreed not to release hatchery steelhead into Puget Sound rivers until NOAA completed a review. The settlement allowed fish to be released into the Skykomish River.

Puget Sound steelhead, a trout that migrates to the ocean, was listed as threatened in 2007 because of loss of habitat, overfishing, predation and a lack of regulations to govern potentially harmful hatchery practices and other land-use activities.

Their numbers have been depleted, with about 15,000 to 20,000 wild Puget Sound steelhead remaining, Scott said.

“We’ve made substantial changes in our programs in the last 10 years, and we believe that they’re very consistent with the survival and recovery of wild steelhead,” Scott said. “We’ve done extensive genetic analysis that shows very little exchange between the wild and the hatchery fish.”

Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy’s executive director, said scientific studies show serious problems result when wild and hatchery fish interact.

“It’s the constant degrading of those genes that increases their survival problem,” said Beardslee, who welcomed NOAA’s decision.